Wheeling, W. Va. - Monday kicked off the final regular season tournament of the fall season for the Wheeling University Men's Golf team as they gear up for the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Men's Golf Championships. The Cardinals hit their stride at the right time, shooting a season best 569 across the first two rounds of competition, sitting tied for fifth in the field. Just four strokes separate the Cardinals from the second place team in the field as their veterans lead the way through the first two rounds.
Pacing the effort was graduate student Sean Dobson, who shot sub-70 scores in both rounds and sits at 136 (-4) after 36 holes of play. He started strong in the first round, beginning on the back nine and hitting birdies on back-to-back holes to start his day. It was the first of three birdies on the back nine, and Dobson hit the turn sitting at –2 as he went to the front nine. The success continued on hole one as he hit par on back-to-back holes before hitting his fourth birdie on hole three. He would add three strokes over the next five holes, but a birdie rounded out the round and Dobson sat at 69 (-1) after 18 holes. He only got better as he began his second round, hitting par on all but two holes on the back nine. The other two were birdies and he sat at –2 with nine holes to play. He went back to even after holes one and two, but finished with three birdies on the final seven holes to finish at a 67 (-3) for the round. He sits two strokes off the leaderboard and will look to continue his success into round three.
The other two Cardinals to crack the top 50 were Troy Loughry and Zak Collins, who tied each other shooting 145 across the two rounds. It would be Collins who had the early advantage with a strong showing in round one, after hitting back-to-back birdies to start his day. He would add two pars and one birdie as he hit his first turn and sat at –1 heading to the front nine. He pared on hole one, but got his stroke back on hole two. He would hit birdie twice more on the front nine and finished the first round at 72 (+2). He would round his day out with a 73 in the second round and it was Loughry's turn to take the lead in round two after shooting a 73 in the first round. With his score sitting at +3, Loughry would birdie to open the second round and hit par on four straigth holes. He ended up evening that score before rounding out the back nine and added a par on the first hole on the front nine. He would add five pars on the front nine and a birdie, and finished at a 72 to finish the round. Both are just nine strokes off the pace of Dobson as they look to continue their success.
Rounding out the team portion of the event was Elias Ekenes-Fosback, who shot 149 across his two rounds of competition. It was his second round that helped him climb the ladder after he finished round one at 76 (+6). His second round was consistent, as he hit par on 14 holes and added a birdie to sit at 73 (+3) for the round. The Cardinals rounded out the day with two individual golfers as Lodin Femoen and Eirik Lindholm rounded out the day. Lindholm would be the top individual golfer, shooting 147 across the two rounds, with a 73 in round one and a 74 in round two. Femoen would round out the day at 148 to finish 66th, shooting a team-best 70 in round one, followed by a 78 in round two.
The Wheeling University Men's Golf team returns to action for round three of the Sunnehanna Collegiate with tee times beginning at around 8:30 AM.
